Door buffer



March 17, 1931. H. A MYERS 1,796,388

DOOR BUFFER Filed Sept. '26. 1929 Patented Mar. 17, 1931 UNITED STATESPATENT oFFIcE HUBERT A. MYERS, or TOLEDO, OHIO noon BUFFER Applicationfiled September 26, 1929; Serial No. 395,411.

practical application of the invention, I have selected a structurecontaining the invention as an example of the different forms of doorbufi'ers that involve the use of the invention, and shall describe thebuffer selected hereinafter. The bufi'er referred to is shown in theaccompanying drawing.

Fig. 1 of the drawing illustrates a perspective View of a part of anautomobile door, and the jamb in connection with whlch the structure,selected for purposes of illustration, is used. Fig. 2 illustrates asectional view of the inter-related parts of the door and illustratesthe relative position of the parts when the door has reached a polntnearits limit of its closing movement. Fig. 8 illustrates the relativepositions of the parts when the door is completely closed.

In connection with doors of automobiles, as is well known, there is aconsiderable jouncing of the automobile as it moves over the road withthe result that doors become loose, and, in time, rattle in their cases.In order to avoid this movement, such doors are provided with cushionmembers whichare usually formed of soft rubber that frictlonally engage,upon closing the door, the opposite sides of a tongue that is secured tothe door edge. When, therefore, the door 1s to be closed, the surfacesof the cushion members frictionally resist the closlng movement, and inopening the door the same frictional resistance is encountered, with theresult that, in order to open the door after it is unlatched, aconsiderable force is required to move 1t. It has been found that, intime, the rubber cushions become hardened and thereby thelr eificiencyis materially destroyed. Likewise,

in opening the door, the resistance of the door latch located midwaybetween the side edges of'the door must be manually over come. By myinvention, an elastic means is used not only for bufling the closingmovement, but also to clamp the opposite sides of the door tongue uponthe completion of the closing movement and thus elastically holdthe'door as against any vertical movements with respect to the doorjamb, and at the same time, eliminate frictional resistance to theclosingandopening movements of the door. Italso operates to spring pressthe door outwardly so that when the latch is disengaged the door willimmediately move outwardly. In the construction embodying my invention,the door 1 is provided with the tongue 2which may be die-pressed toshape, it being provided withend parts 3 that may be secured ,to theedge of the door, as by the screws 4. The jamb 5 of the door is providedwith a case 6 that may be located within the surfaces of the jamb, as bymorticing. The case 6 is provided with a spring 7 that is secured inposition by its own resiliency, its ends being located in the innercorners of the case. The spring 7 is provided with a re-entrant part 8and so as to form the two bowed portions 9. The case 6 is provided witha suitable opening or slot 10 through which the tongue 2 may be movedand engage the central portion 11 of the re-entrant part 8. Thus, thespring 7 is formed to have, preferably, inwardly curved portions 15, andthe outwardly curved or bowed portions 16, which are joined by theinwardly curved portion 17 of the central part 11 of the re-entrantportion of the spring. The tongue 2 engages the central part 11 at nearthe completionof the closing movement of the door and upon a furtherslight movement, the bowed portions of the spring will be drawn againstthe sides of the tongue; the inwardly curved portions 15, now assuming asubstantially straight position, acts to brace the bowed portion againstthe tongue. Thus, the tongue will be clamped between the bowed portionsof the spring where it will be held as long as the door is secured bythe latch. Upon unlatching the door, the tension of the spring causes itto push the door open With a quick outvard movement, the reactive pressure of the spring requiring a very short (l1S tance for operation. Thiseliminates the necessity of pulling on the door in order to tree itstongue from clamping parts of a buffer member.

I claim:

In a door butter, a tongue having parallel upper and lower surfaces andattached to the door, a socket supported in the door amb, a springlocated in the socket, the spring having a re-entrant part, the sides ofthe re-entrant part normally inclined to the upperand lower parallelsides of the tongue, the inner end of the re-entrant part located remotefrom the bottom of the socket, the sides of the re-entrant part adaptedto increasingly clamp the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue whenthe edge of the tongue presses the central portion of the re-entrantpart and to increasingly resist the inward movement of? the tongue afterthe tongue engages the inner end of the re-entrant part as the tongue isfurther moved into the socket, the tongue being connected to the doorand the socket to the door jamh to cause movement of the inner end or"the re-entrant part towards the bottom of the socket by the movement ofthe tongue and upon releasement of the door to produce with a relativelylow pressure a large lnOIl'lQIltlllH in the door.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name to this specification.

HUBERT A. MYERS.

